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Thursday, April 3, 2014

Fort Hood gunman was being treated for mental illness

An Iraq War veteran being treated for a mental illness opened fire Wednesday at Fort Hood, killing three soldiers and injuring 16 before killing himself, officials said

Army Lt. Gen. Mark Milley, the senior officer at the facility, said at an evening news conference that there was no indication of terrorism, but added "we're not ruling anything out." Fort Hood is the same base where in 2009 U.S. Army Maj. Nidal Hasan killed more than a dozen in the shooting.

Authorities identified Wednesday’s shooter as Spc. Ivan A. Lopez, 34. He was armed with a .45 caliber Smith & Wesson and turned the gun on himself when confronted by a female military police officer in a parking lot.

Milley said he did not know any motive for the incident, but the shooter, who had served four months in combat in Iraq in 2011, had "behavioral and mental health issues" and was being treated for those. The gunman had been undergoing an assessment to determine whether he had post-traumatic stress disorder, Milley said.

The shooter was married with a family and had arrived at Fort Hood in February, Milley said. He did not identify the shooter by name, saying his family had not yet been notified. However, senior U.S. officials earlier named Lopez as the gunman.

Milley said he could confirm three victims had been killed, along with the shooter, and 16 injured were at two hospitals in the area.

The gunfire began around 4 p.m. local time and occurred in two buildings at the post, the scene of a 2009 shooting that left 13 soldiers dead.